Charoen Pokphand increases convenience store numbers

Thailand's largest agribusiness conglomerate Charoen Pokphand Foods (CPF) will increase the number of its CP Fresh Marts to 2,000 by 2015, tripling last year's level.

Jakchai Nutprayoon, a senior vice-president, said the company plans to open 1,400 new CP Fresh Mart convenience stores from 2012-15, Thai newspaper The Bangkok Post reports.

It will also put more effort into increasing the number of small cold storages, which distribute CP fresh and frozen food to small and medium-sized enterprise buyers, to 20,000 throughout Thailand, from 5,000 last year.

The plan requires an investment of 1.65 billion baht (€39.8 million) – 1.4 billion for opening new CP Fresh Mart stores and 250 million for buying 15,000 new cold storages.

Sales of fresh foodSales of CP fresh food, ready-to-eat and frozen food sold at CP Fresh Mart stores and cold storage totalled 4.8 billion baht (€116 million) last year and are projected to grow by 15% in 2012 to 5.6 billion baht (€135 million). With its expansion plan, CPF hopes eventually to reach 10 billion baht (€241 million) in sales.

CPF will test international markets for CP Fresh Mart by opening 70 stores in Vietnam and seven in Malaysia. It already opened one store in Myanmar late last year but most of the products are locally sourced.

Charoen Pokphand Foods is Thailand’s largest integrator of pig and poultry meat and one of the world’s biggest agribusiness enterprises.